Thursday, July 10, 2014

Me-Made-...July?

So I know I haven't posted here in a while. It's been a combination of a handful of things - moving, adjusting to the busy life of a 40-hour work week in a city full of people, and handling my two best friends in the world - laziness and depression. But I'm carving out time for myself and for getting crafty, so look out! I'm (hopefully) going to be back in full force soon-ish.

(I add the -ish because we only air condition our living room and there's no room to cut fabric in there. So, I'm praying for cooler nights just like everyone else.)

In the course of my last few moves, I forgot to get all the cute retro dresses I had made into my closet and therefore haven't been wearing them for at least a year or two. Maybe more like three or four. (Whoops.) But I just picked them all up maybe a month ago and have been wearing them non-stop. I forgot just how fun it is to wear clothing that you've made and how much I love vintage styling. I am far too lazy to take the time out to do my hair every day (not that it likes to hold style anyway), but just having a nipped-in waist and a sense of frilly quilting-cotton girlyness gives a little extra bounce to my step.

That - and having hair that looks like something between a traffic cone, a day lily and a blood orange - are what really bring a little joy to my day. Yes, as a young professional I have decided to join the ranks of the creatively styled in Philadelphia and have turned my hair bright orange. Not just some of it, all of it. It makes every day a little more fun, and makes all the orange things I own pop just a little more - and I own a lot of orange. I went through a few different brands, but my current color is a blend of Special Effects Hi-Octane Orange (which should glow under blacklight, but my hair currently doesn't) and Color Ion Orange. The Special Effects is quite red for my tastes, but it should hold in my hair a lot longer than the plain Ion. I bought the last two bottles out of the one store in Philly that had it (which I went in on a whim, like a champ - best recent random shopping experience) but they're finally starting to restock colors, so hopefully oranges will be soon!

I've also been spending a lot of the summer alone. My boyfriend has been out at festivals and other events a lot of weekends and I just don't have the time off to be there most of the time. (I did go out to PEX Summer Festival last weekend, which was a great experience.) It's been nice being more independent, though I also haven't bought real groceries in like a month. I forgot how wonderful it can be to be by yourself, or to connect with friends on your own. My boyfriend is a stunning conversationalist, so people often either make grossly inaccurate assumptions about me (based on him) or don't feel like they get to know me at all.

In other words, the creative juices have started to flow again (I actually have a post backlogged here because I haven't gotten any good shots of it yet - maybe I'll get those tonight!) and I've made time in my life for them to get all out and wiggly. Here comes a flow of awesome stuff to wear and cuddle and dance and play in! Here's to the second half of 2014! Here's to that Cookie Puss cake at the end of the month!